German Government Keeps Postponing Transgender Reforms

Berlin, Germany – The German Government has no intention to change the current legal situation for a transgender name and gender change. This is the result of an information request submitted by the German Green Party “Alliance 90 / The Greens” ( Buendniss 90 / Die Gruenen). Susan’s Place has been provided a copy of the request and the respective responses.

Based on current law, a name and gender change has to be evaluated by a court which then requires two independent studies by court-appointed medical experts. Some courts have even requested a third study. The cost of these studies has to be covered by the transgender person seeking the changes.

The Green Party “Alliance 90 / The Greens” ( Buendniss 90 / Die Gruenen).have asked why the medical evaluations are still a requirement since the World Health Organization has reclassified transgender in their International Classification Of Diseases. The WHO has recently released an updated version 11 of their ICD in June of 2018. Transgender is no longer seen as a sickness and has been moved to a new chapter for sexual health. In their response, the German Government stated that the classification will only be active in the year 2022 and while they are working it, there is still a lot of time left for a change. The German Government also believes that translation and adoption of the new ICD 11 would require at least five years to implement.

The German Federal Constitutional Court has confirmed the requirement for two independent studies by court-appointed medical experts in December of 2017 as reported earlier.

The Green Party “Alliance 90 / The Greens” (Buendniss 90 / Die Gruenen). further inquired about the German Governments progress on implementing the recommendations of the European Union Commissioner for Human Rights an the respective Resolution 2048 of the European Parliament. Amongst others, Resolution 2040 requests member states to “develop quick, transparent and accessible procedures, based on self-determination” fora name and gender change. In their response, the German Government highlights their work on implementing a third gender as well as the respective procedures to change gender markers for people assigned the third gender option at birth. The response, however, falls short to clearly include the transgender community.

The Green Party highlights, that the German Government does not provide any reasonable explanation for maintaining the medical evaluations. This can cause great harm to transgender people and is no longer in line with WHO recommendations. The Green Party has submitted a draft bill in May of 2017 replacing the current “Transsexuellengesetz” by a self-determined process, similar to many other countries around the world.